Prep football: Southridge looking to catch No. 5 Jesuit, pull even in Metro League title chase

Jesuit quarterback Nicholas Rothstein (7), seen here following blocker Dominic Baldocchi (68), said the Crusaders are right where they hoped to be heading into Week 8. (Doug Beghtel/The Oregonian)

Despite a sub-.500 overall record with two games remaining, the Southridge Skyhawks are still in the hunt for the Metro League championship.

If the Skyhawks (3-4, 2-1 Metro) win Friday's home game against the league-leading Jesuit Crusaders and then win next week's home game against the Westview Wildcats, they’ll either win the championship outright or finish tied with Jesuit.

However, if Jesuit wins Friday, and if Sunset wins on the road against Westview, the No. 5 Crusaders (5-2, 3-0) will clinch a seventh league championship in eight seasons and an automatic berth into the Class 6A’s 32-team playoff field.

The Skyhawks are coming off a 34-24 loss at Sunset last week that dropped them into a second-place tie with Westview, one game behind the Crusaders.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Southridge coach Brad Mastrud said after the Skyhawks squandered an early 10-0 lead against the Apollos. “I mean, we win that game, yeah, we’re 3-0 and it looks a lot better going into this game.

“But the reality of it is, if anybody ever wants to be the league champion in this league, you've got to beat Jesuit, whether you're 2-1 or 3-0. Going into the game, it's all the same.”

Southridge has one of the league’s best passers in junior quarterback Reza Aleaziz, who has completed 96 of 178 passes for 1,616 yards with 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

But can the Skyhawks’ offensive line protect Aleaziz long enough to find open receivers against a defense that likes to blitz? Or will the Crusaders stuff Southridge the way they stuffed Aloha in last week’s 28-0 victory when they forced the Warriors to punt eight times and held the defending state champions to five first downs and 81 yards total offense?

Southridge’s other challenge will be when Jesuit has the ball and the Skyhawks try to slow down an offense led by senior quarterback Nicholas Rothstein and junior running back A.J. Glass that averages 426.3 yards and 36.9 points a game.

“They're really big up front, and offensively they just hammer you,” Mastrud said. “You've got to dedicate so many people to the line of scrimmage (to try and stop the run), and then that quarterback (Rothstein) is just good enough to throw the fade routes or the seam routes for big plays.”

Against Aloha, the Crusaders did most of their damage on the ground as Glass rushed for 212 yards on 33 carries, and Joseph Graham and Morgan Sellers combined for another 161 yards on 30 carries.

“It’s always a big game against Southridge,” Rothstein said. “We’re just happy that we’re in the position that we are right now, basically getting to play Southridge for the league title.

“I definitely feel like we’re reaching all of our expectations, we’re definitely prepared for this game, and we’re right where we want to be heading into our eighth game.”

The Crusaders have won three consecutive games against Southridge and five of the last six, including last season’s 62-7 rout at Jesuit’s Cronin Field.